Are there any Americanisms in lyrics that we can explain to you non-Americans?

I was listening to some Chuck Berry this morning, and started thinking about how the early British rockers totally worshipped him, and how his lyrics shaped their rose-colored vision of what they thought America was like.

Then I started thinking about song lyrics that have very obvious Americanisms, like this verse in "Brown-Eyed Handsome Man":

Two-three the count, with nobody on
He hit a high fly into the stand
Rounding third he was headed for home
It was a brown eyed handsome man that won the game
It was a brown eyed handsome man

AFAIK, baseball is not a "thing" in Europe. Do folks outside North America understand what these lyrics mean?

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Are there any other Americanisms in lyrics that you folks overseas have been wondering about, that we can explain for you?

 

Apparently, we all get you just fine!

 

Ummmm, most of us get baseball, it’s played all over the world not just the United States.


Would you like us to explain cricket to you?

 

A trick question. There is no such thing as a two-three count in baseball.

 

Good point, that would be 2 balls and 3 strikes!
See, we do get baseball.

 

Don McLean - American Pie ,

"Drove my Chevy to the levee"

Nobody I knew , knew what a levee is ?

I suppose embankment didn't work in the lyric .

 

The “levee” in American Pie was/is a bar in Westchester NY

 

If that bar breaks we'll have no place to stay.

 

Levee Goes Dry as "American Pie" Tavern Loses Liquor License | Talk of the Sound

 

We never called it a levee, we called it a bank.

 

There is a theory that Berry, a lifelong St. Louis Cards fan, intentionally wrote that line as a dig at racism, ie: the "Brown-eyed Handsome Man" already had "3 strikes against him"...
Read it somewhere on the net. Don't know if it's true.

 

That would be awesome if true. As a baseball fan, that line always bugged me due to its impossibility. To know there was a purpose behind it would be fantastic.

 

All this time I've been thinking he drove out to a dam for a few beers .

 

Nice idea for a thread (and a generous offer!)

The Chuck Berry lyric is a great example of the sort of thing that needs explaining.

A big part of the problem, though - for those of us on either side of the Atlantic - is that half the time we don’t even realize we haven’t understood what’s been said /sung in the first place. All of which makes it rather difficult to pose a question.

I speak from experience.

An example of the sort of thing I mean would be something like “Late last night I heard the screen door slam” from Joni Mitchell’s Big Yellow Taxi. Most Brits in 1970 wouldn’t have had a clue what a screen door was, whereas most Americans would pick up on the atmosphere of summer and all that goes with it. Not earth-shattering, but it adds something.

 

What about C.W. McCall "Convoy"?

Why was he about to put the hammer down? What was he doing with the hammer before?

Bears in the air? We usually find them in the forest.

 

Right but here it is a bar hence the next line.

 

All the lyrics in "American Pie" are metaphors for other things in our rock-n'-roll history. Think of it as, "Baby Boomer Passover":
"But Dad, why was the whole generation 'Lost In Space'...?"
"Well, son, the most important era was of course, when the Baby Boomers were responsible for everything..."
"Ummm, I gotta go, Dad...Grampa says he's got an old, lint-covered caramel in his pocket for me...."

Sure Dad, that's why the kid wants to know about that song where he's gonna die...

Kinda the way I suspect the rest of the world thinks of this thread...
("Hmm, Americans are musically self-centered and think the world depends on them...maybe we could get them to take custody of Robbie Williams for awhile....")

 

The whole nine yards? (NFL ref?)
"How do you like them apples?". I hear it quoted a lot but where's it from and what is its context?m

 

Aks 'em in New Orleans. EVERYBODY knows what a levee is!

When the Levees Broke

 

On behalf of all Americans . . . I apologize for "Convoy".

 

I have always wondered: What does "E-Bow The Letter" (by R.E.M.) mean?

 

I never knew that!

There can be little doubt about the subtext of that song.

Correct, it's derived from American football, and means "all the way" or "everything."

No idea about the origin, but it can be translated as "How do you like THAT?"
(ie: "Not only am I quitting, but I just got hired by your competitor with a 20% salary increase, so how do you like THEM apples?")

 

One of Chuck Berry's greatest lyrics, and his clever comment on race during the pre-Civil Rights era. It came up a little after his passing how his lyrics often times had two intentional different meanings depending on the reader.

 

100% agree... his lyrics are some of the finest in American music.

 

During my year of study in Germany, a fella was giving me a ride to a game while cranking Bruce Springsteen. He then asked what a "VA Man" was from "Born in the USA."

I explained that meant a Veterans Administration official as the song portrays a Vietnam vet. He was very grateful.